what I have learned today.

[robgul]

Being a bit of a woodworker I usually use those "flat" pencils to mark out the timber (the pencils are flat so they don't roll off the bench) . . . I've always sharpened them with a Stanley knife or a chisel ..... today I bought a pack of flat woodwork pencils from Aldi and they came with a special pencil sharpener   

The bit you put the pencil into is slot-shaped and the has a sort of collar than then rotates as you turn the pencil (like a normal round pencil sharpener) againsts the blade.  Pretty good, and easier to get a fine point than with a knife.

[Mrs Pingu]

Oh, is that why the pencils are flat? I would just put a bit of elastic band or maybe some sugru on a round one...

[citoyen]

(the pencils are flat so they don't roll off the bench)

^This is what I have learned today.

Oh, is that why the pencils are flat?

I mean, it's bllindingly obvious now he mentions it, but I never managed to work it out before.

[robgul]

(the pencils are flat so they don't roll off the bench)

^This is what I have learned today.

Oh, is that why the pencils are flat?

I mean, it's bllindingly obvious now he mentions it, but I never managed to work it out before.

The pencils are great - for the reason that has enlightened some people today - BUT you need either strange-shaped or VERY LARGE ears to put one behind your ear in true woodworker style.   

I also find that the little wooden pencils from either IKEA or Screwfix are pretty useful and ear-friendly ....

AND talking about rolling off the bench . .  I was watching a YouTube video the other day where the chap made a non-slip push-stick* for his table-saw** from a bit of broomstick with a rubber walking stick ferrule on the end ..... he also taped a small piece of wood to the other end to stop it rolling away.

* what its says, to push wood being sawn past the blade rather than risk your fingers
** imagine a circular saw upside down, under a table with the blade poking through the slot in the top - pretty scary (and more so for the US woodworkers that don't have guards on their machines)

[Giraffe]

The best way to use a saw table, especially a BFO job, is to let someone else do it. Learned that at work - I'd work on live 3-phase but the carpenter was the sacrificial goat.

[T42]

(the pencils are flat so they don't roll off the bench)

^This is what I have learned today.

Oh, is that why the pencils are flat?

I mean, it's bllindingly obvious now he mentions it, but I never managed to work it out before.

The question is, why are the rest of them round? Especially when you think that traditional school desks, writing-slopes and pro drawing-boards are all tilted.

[Kim]

I have learned that there is a social media "thing" called nextdoor.  I have also learned that it is not worth my time and effort to join it due to the inane drivel and petty bickering that pervades it's pages.

Thank you YACF for saving me from this.   Are there any more of these social media dumpsters lurking that I should be aware of and carefully avoid please?    🙂

Pinterest: Website that apparently exists purely for the purpose of obfuscating attributions.  Plus points: No bottom half of enraged gammons.  Minus points: Utterly pointless.

TikTok: Malware for young people.

LinkedIn: Spamming system for recruitment types.

Parler: Cesspit of the far right.

Tumblr: Overly complicated way of posting photos to Twitter.


Do join in if you can think of more...

[Ham]

Instagram for those who can't afford a mirror?
Snapchat for preschool activities?

[citoyen]

Parler: Cesspit of the far right.

This one has passed me by.

Sounds like I should be grateful for this.

[citoyen]

The question is, why are the rest of them round?

Have you tried picking your nose with a flat pencil? Hmmm?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Reddit: a forum for people who can't be bothered to join forums.

Kicker: texting for those with more data than message allowances.

[Mr Larrington]

The question is, why are the rest of them round?

Have you tried picking your nose with a flat pencil? Hmmm?

And you can't reset TV's M Rendall to factory settings with a flat one.  We've tried.

[chrisbainbridge]

The question is, why are the rest of them round?

Have you tried picking your nose with a flat pencil? Hmmm?

And you can't reset TV's M Rendall to factory settings with a flat one.  We've tried.

I suspect because you cannot get a fine precision grip as easily for hand writing and drawing.

[ElyDave]

(the pencils are flat so they don't roll off the bench)

^This is what I have learned today.

Oh, is that why the pencils are flat?

I mean, it's bllindingly obvious now he mentions it, but I never managed to work it out before.

The question is, why are the rest of them round? Especially when you think that traditional school desks, writing-slopes and pro drawing-boards are all tilted.

because pencil sharpeners have round holes?

The question is, why are the rest of them round?

Have you tried picking your nose with a flat pencil? Hmmm?

And you can't reset TV's M Rendall to factory settings with a flat one.  We've tried.

I suspect because you cannot get a fine precision grip as easily for hand writing and drawing.

Kids these days get rubber grips put on the pencils

[Tim Hall]

Reddit: a forum for people who can't be bothered to join forums.

Reddit: like USENET but in the 21st century.

[Tim Hall]

I have learned that there is a social media "thing" called nextdoor.  I have also learned that it is not worth my time and effort to join it due to the inane drivel and petty bickering that pervades it's pages.

Thank you YACF for saving me from this.   Are there any more of these social media dumpsters lurking that I should be aware of and carefully avoid please?    🙂

LinkedIn: Spamming system for recruitment types.

LinkedIn: Like Facebook but all your friends work in recruitment and you don't care if they die (knicked off of the wireless)

[quixoticgeek]

Germans use “pfund” to refer to 500g.

The Dutch do something similar.

When they went metric, they converted the terms from pre metric times, ~450g for a pound makes pfund of 500g sensible. With the ounce tho, rather than taking the 28.3g ounce and making it say, 25g, they went for 100g.

This made things entertaining when baking a cake with my Dutch then partner. Using my gran's recipe I said we needed 12oz of flour. Said partner weighed out 1.2kg... rather than the 340g I was expecting...

J

[ElyDave]

What if it said three-quarters of a pound?

[T42]

The question is, why are the rest of them round?

Have you tried picking your nose with a flat pencil? Hmmm?

No. Have you?

[T42]

Kids these days get rubber grips put on the pencils

And still end up holding them like a battle-axe.

[T42]

Germans use “pfund” to refer to 500g.

The Dutch do something similar.

When they went metric, they converted the terms from pre metric times, ~450g for a pound makes pfund of 500g sensible. With the ounce tho, rather than taking the 28.3g ounce and making it say, 25g, they went for 100g.

Ditto here, half a kilo is a livre.  I'll have a book of sausages, please.

ISTR, not that I was there, that after the metric system was formally adopted by the state, traders who persisted in using the old measurements could be executed. Napoleon was a bit of a bastard at times.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Germans use “pfund” to refer to 500g.

The Dutch do something similar.

When they went metric, they converted the terms from pre metric times, ~450g for a pound makes pfund of 500g sensible.

Must have made for some interesting conversations, particularly in shops.

With the ounce tho, rather than taking the 28.3g ounce and making it say, 25g, they went for 100g.

That is bizarre. Still, I guess it's no more bizarre than the hundredweight/centner/quintal, which seems to vary between 100lbs, 112lbs, 100kg and 50kg depending on location, decade, trade...

[Mr Larrington]

Germans use “pfund” to refer to 500g.

The Dutch do something similar.

When they went metric, they converted the terms from pre metric times, ~450g for a pound makes pfund of 500g sensible. With the ounce tho, rather than taking the 28.3g ounce and making it say, 25g, they went for 100g.

Ditto here, half a kilo is a livre.  I'll have a book of sausages, please.

ISTR, not that I was there, that after the metric system was formally adopted by the state, traders who persisted in using the old measurements could be executed. Napoleon was a bit of a bastard at times.

We of the Democratic Ruthless Bastards Party endorse this methodology.  Self-styled “Metric Martyrs” are invariably fully paid-up members of the Lumpengammonariat and should be strongly deprecated.

[ian]

I never understood the anti-metric thing. It's a few minutes to learn that there's about two pounds in a kilo and the better part of two pints in a litre. Job done, you've learned a set of simple and easy-to-use units, rather than cubic bloody hogsheads per furlong.

It's almost like they're the province of the really fucking stupid.

[Mr Larrington]

I never understood the anti-metric thing.

[…]

It's almost like they're the province of the really fucking stupid.

Nail.  Head.

I may have railed before about the drooling simp who used to berate the BBC almost daily for using nasty new-fangled FOREIGN Celsius instead of honest God-fearing Tory-voting BRITISH Fahrenheit.  These people think “irony” is an adjective.